Seocho-gu Provides Customized Consulting for Children in Vulnerable Groups to COVID-19

Support for 1:1 solution counseling through educational institutions for 70 vulnerable middle and high school students to relieve anxiety... ▲ Meal card and lunchbox support for 670 vulnerable children at risk of food insecurity, ▲ ‘AI Smart Schooling’ also supports 258 elementary and middle school students with online classes

Career Consulting

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] #1. Parent A, who has a son in the 9th grade, is very worried about their child's career and college admission issues. Due to partial in-person classes and online lessons caused by COVID-19, the student's academic achievement has declined, and normal classes are difficult. However, due to the family's financial situation, they cannot rely on private education such as academies or tutoring, causing further concern.

#2. Kim, a high school senior preparing for college entrance exams, is very interested in brain science. She wants to study brain science at university, but her current mock exam scores are around level 4, leaving her uncertain about how to prepare for the entrance exams.

Seocho District Office (Mayor Jo Eun-hee) has prepared a ‘customized consulting’ program to motivate learning and provide career direction for about 70 vulnerable middle and high school students to alleviate anxiety about career paths and college admissions caused by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), starting operation in June.

First, considering that high school seniors taking this year’s entrance exams are severely behind academically due to COVID-19 and need to enter university through early admission rather than regular admission, consulting is prioritized to provide guidance on their admission direction.

Subsequently, individual schedules will be coordinated sequentially up to the 8th grade to provide ‘solution counseling.’ ‘Solution counseling’ is a program where 1:1 face-to-face consultations with professional consultants accurately diagnose each student’s current status based on basic data and suggest career directions.

The consulting is divided into high school and university entrance fields and lasts 70 minutes per individual. High school entrance consulting shares preliminary diagnosis and basic information about learning and career types, discusses career paths together, and sets directions and specific activity plans to achieve goals.

University entrance consulting is conducted similarly to high school consulting but with different goals. It focuses on establishing realistic university admission strategies and creating concrete execution plans through project proposal writing.

In particular, high school seniors receive a personalized 240-minute ‘customized self-introduction letter solution’ to assist in writing self-introduction letters as important as school records, enhancing completeness through 1:1 individual editing by professional consultants.

A high school senior who had many concerns about college entrance exams due to COVID-19 expressed satisfaction after receiving career consulting, saying, “It was good to hear stories and study methods helpful for choosing a university and major, and especially after setting a goal, I was definitely motivated to study harder.”

Along with educational support, the district also strengthened care support. Currently, due to partial in-person classes and prolonged closures of local child care centers caused by COVID-19, there is concern about children in blind spots of meal support facing food insecurity.

The district urgently secured additional funds (3,000 KRW per meal) and provided two meals a day via meal cards or lunch boxes to 670 vulnerable children in meal blind spots, ensuring they can have nutritious and healthy meals.

Additionally, in early April, the district was the first nationwide to support ‘AI Smart Schooling’ for 258 vulnerable elementary and middle school students who faced difficulties with online classes due to the sudden online school opening.

The ‘Smart Schooling’ support resulted in very high satisfaction by timely providing remote smart learning tailored to children’s levels linked to the school curriculum for vulnerable children who had difficulty attending online classes.

AI Smart Learning

Moreover, systematic and continuous learning management by professional tutors greatly helped in forming self-directed learning habits, attracting much attention.

Jo Eun-hee, Mayor of Seocho District, said, “In response to the serious educational gap and care gaps among vulnerable students due to the prolonged COVID-19 situation, we have prepared various supports such as specialized career and admission consulting and meal cards and lunch boxes for vulnerable children. We will create a Seocho that cares more attentively with a mother’s heart so that income disparities do not lead to educational opportunity inequalities.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.